


I Love the Night

by imaquailcat



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Alternate Universe - Werewolf, The title is from the song of the same name, by Blue Oyster Cult, werewolf!michael
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-05-22
Packaged: 2019-04-19 00:53:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14225565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaquailcat/pseuds/imaquailcat
Summary: Jeremy Heere had always lived in Creekview, Ohio. He had friends, enemies and everything in-between there.Then, the summer before junior year, his mother sent him to New Jersey to live with his father.It's okay, he supposed. He could get along with the other students. It didn't take long for him to realize, though, that his new friends weren't telling him something.He just needed to figure out what that thing was.(The Werewolf!Michael AU nobody asked for)





	1. -o n e-

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It begins. Jeremy nearly has an absolute nightmare of a first day, but a stranger with golden eyes shows up at just the right time.

The small, dilapidated buildings of Creekview, Ohio were home to Jeremy Heere. That wasn’t up for debate. He knew every square inch of the town. If you wanted to know the fastest way to any location, he was the first you should ask.

  
But Jeremy wasn’t in Creekview. He didn’t even live in Ohio anymore. His mother said she couldn’t support him and sent him off to New Jersey to live with his father. Jeremy knew his mom meant well, she was a wonderful woman, but he was still upset that he had been uprooted and sent to a new state halfway through high school.

  
The boy’s eyes scanned the bare white walls of his room and the sparsely placed furniture, memorizing every detail before taking a picture and sending it to his friends.

  
**Leafeon:** Bor-ing  
**Eevee:** It’s spacey  
**You:** Yeah I lucked out.  
**You:** I’ve got a bed and a desk  
**You:** Bare minimum for survival  
**Leafeon:** I mean  
**Eevee:** At least you have room to grow  
**Leafeon:** I was going to say it’ll fill up quickly with his missiness but that worked too.  
**Leafeon:** **messiness

  
Jeremy chuckled a bit. Holly Ebony and Hunter Zenith were still living in Creekview, but at least Jeremy had a phone.

  
Holly and Hunter were Jeremy’s best friends of 9 and 5 years, respectively. Holly, nicknamed Leafeon, was blunt and sarcastic, serving as a natural counterbalance to Hunter and Jeremy’s constant stuttering. Some of her upfront strength had rubbed off on Jeremy, but Hunter, or Eevee, had yet to start a conversation without his friend’s encouragement.

  
**Eevee:** Hiw was your dad?  
**You:** He was nice but  
**You:** I barely know the man so it was awkward  
**Leafeon:** At least he’s nice  
**Eevee:** Hey  
**Eevee:** Holly’s being optimistic  
**Eevee:** I didn’t think that was possible  
**Leafeon:** Hah-hah

 

**—**

  
Two weeks later, school started up. And, of course, Jeremy was going to be late. He had been planning on walking, but his alarm hadn’t gone off.

  
“And now I’m going to be late from day one.”

  
Jeremy was jogging to get there, but he was slowly losing motivation. It only took a few minutes for him to slow to a crawl, giving up all hope to actually reach the building on time. “I might as well accept defeat,” he hissed under his breath as he collapsed by a street light. “And not get there a sweaty mess.”

  
Then, like an angel emerging from the darkness or just really convenient timing, an old PT Cruiser pulled over and the window rolled down.

  
“Hey, uh, are you okay?” Came a voice from inside the car. It was a boy about Jeremy’s age, with glasses and... hey, were his eyes gold?

  
Jeremy shook his head. “Not at all,” he groaned. “My alarm didn’t go off.”

  
“Oh. Uh, are you going to Middle Borough?” Jeremy nodded slightly. “Get in.”

  
“Wait, what?” Jeremy sputtered out. “I don’t know you, I’ve literally never seen you before!”

  
“My name is Michael Mell. I’m a junior and I go to the same school as you. Now you’ve met me and I’m not letting you be late because I’ve literally never seen you before and I’ve at least seen everyone at school which means you’re new and being late would butcher your reputation before you even get one.”

  
Jeremy wrinkled his brow, but sighed and clambered next to Michael. _I don’t have an option, really, and he’s the same age as me._ “Jeremy Heere. Thanks, I guess.”

  
A short and mildly awkward car ride later, and Jeremy was at school somewhat on time. He climbed out of the car after thanking Michael about a million times too much and started toward the actual school building.

  
“Michael!” Called a voice from a few feet away. Just as Jeremy started walking away, a short girl ran past him, nearly knocking him over. She turned around suddenly, an apologetic look on her face. “OhmygodImsosorry.”

Jeremy smiled with a nervous giggle. “It’s fine, simple mistake.”

  
“I’m Christine,” The girl said. “And you?”

  
“I’m Jeremy,” he stated. “I was, uh, going to be late for my first day.” Another nervous laugh. “Michael gave me a ride.”

  
“So it’s a good one?” Christine joked. It was clearly directed towards Michael, though Jeremy also noticed her shoot a nervous glance at the sky.

  
“See you around, I guess,” Jeremy said, turning to leave. _The conversation doesn’t involve me anymore._

  
“If you ever need help, I’m open!” Christine called. They began to walk in separate directions, but Jeremy heard her ask something about the forest.

  
Jeremy ran into a few other mutuals over the course of the day. First, a short kid and one that was even taller than Jeremy and that was saying something. The shorter one introduced himself as Rich Goranski and the taller one as Jake Dillinger. They seemed a bit too, well, let’s put it as passionate, for Jeremy but they were kind enough.

  
Next up, he overheard a few girls gossiping - two brunettes, one with light tips, and a curly-haired blonde. The blonde, who also happened to be the shortest, introduced herself as Brooke, prompting the other two to give their names as well - Chloe and Jenna.

  
Overall, things weren’t awful.  
Better than expected.

  
**You:** hey guess what  
**Leafeon:** What  
**Eevee:** What  
**You:** school doesn’t suck  
**Leafeon:** You’ve created a paradox  
**Eevee:** That’s great Jer!!  
**You:** I was nearly late  
**Leafeon:** Only Jeremy would be late on the first day  
**You:** my alarm didn’t go off okay  
**You:** but someone named Michael gave me a ride  
**You:** his eyes are really cool  
**You:** Like, gold  
**Leafeon:** I ship it  
**Eevee:** Meremy  
**You:** I hate you  
**Leafeon:** I wish you many years of joy  
**Eevee:** through sickness and health  
**You:** Jeremy has left the conversation  
**Eevee:** But anyway, what kind of gold?  
**You:** I didn’t get a good look that would be w e i r d  
**You:** But like, brown with gold accents  
**Eevee:** Sounds cool  
**Eevee:** I am totally certain it was not a trick of the light or your love struck mind  
**You:** Why am I friends with you  
**Leafeon:** I could ask you the same questsion  
**Eevee:** You know you love me

  
Jeremy laughed and pocketed his phone, heading home. He noticed Michael heading to his car, shooting his mutual a wave. Michael responded with a grin before driving off, and by the looks of things he was giving Christine a lift.

  
All in all, a not-too-heinous day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter ended up seeming really short and generally awful but I don’t want to rewrite it so... yeah  
> Criticism is encouraged & appreciated!


	2. -t w o-

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeremy can tell something is up, but he has no idea what. A missing dog and Hunter's disbelief of golden eyes lead to a convenient excuse to ask.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wonder how many times I wrote "weird" and "normal" in this chapter. And it still ended up being insanely short.

The next morning, Jeremy’s alarm actually went off, already setting the day off on a positive note. He ran a comb through the curly mop that was his hair and managed to get out of the house somewhat early, at the cost of proper rest. Jeremy did get to school early, and was able to collapse onto a bench in the front and just close his eyes.

After about five minutes of half-asleep rest, Jeremy began to stir again, opening his eyes just in time to see an equally exhausted Michael climbing out of his car and a more awake Christine patting him on the back.

“I swear,” Jeremy overheard as his... friend? Acquaintance? Uh, Michael passed by, “I should get excused from school.” His eyes were half-closed and his pupils dilated unnaturally, yet judging from his clothing he had tried hard to look normal. And failed.

Christine laughed slightly. “Have fun explaining that to the school board.”

“Yeah, yeah...”

Jeremy wrinkled his brow in confusion, then shook his head and stood up to go into the school.

**—**

Throughout the day, Jeremy kept passing Michael in the halls. It seemed like he was progressively waking up, as would be normal, with widening pupils and brighter stares, only to start progressively getting nervous with dilated pupils once again sometime in the afternoon. Jeremy hadn’t placed the exact times he had changed, that would just be creepy, but Michael had gone from _“just woke up from one hour of sleep”_ to _“today is a great day and I’m wide awake”_ to _“oh god everyone is judging me and something is going to go wrong any moment now.”_

That first and last, Jeremy could see, but nobody went through all three over the course of one school day. By the time class ended, he was rather curious as to what was up.

So, of course, the natural response was to make an overly-detailed plan just to ask a simple question.

First draft: “Hey, Michael, you’ve looked pretty off today. Are you okay?”

No, too weird. Jeremy had literally known Michael less than twenty-four hours, he had no right to say what's _“off.”_

Second draft: Just start a normal conversation and try to sway it in the direction of seeing what’s wrong.

The problem was that Jeremy had no idea what a normal conversation was. 

Third Draft: Be blunt, say something along the lines of “You look upset.”

Still too weird. It had the same problems as draft one, only far more blunt and possibly ruder.

Jeremy collapsed on a bench in defeat, pulling out his phone.

 **You:** I give up  
**Leafeon:** What now  
**Eevee:** What's wrong  
**You:** So I noticed Michael seemed weird today  
**Eevee:** You’ve known this guy for a day how do you know what’s weird  
**You** : I could just like  
**You:** Tell  
**You:** He was at first a normal I-just-got-out-of-bed look but his hair was well-brushed and stuff and his clothes were super clean  
**You:** Like he was trying to look awake  
**Eevee:** So how did you tell he wasn’t  
**Leafeon:** It’s his soulmate  
**Leafeon:** They have a connection  
**You:** His eyes  
**Eevee:** The same ones with golden streaks  
**You:** Yes  
**You:** His eyes were definitely gold  
**Eevee:** Pics or it didn’t happen

Jeremy bolted upright at Hunter’s message. “Of course!” He whispered, or possibly shouted, or both. 

 **You:** Hunter your a genius  
**Leafeon:** **you’re  
**You:** Shaddup  
**Eevee:** How am I genius  
**Eevee:** I’m an absolute idiot  
**You:** I’ll tell you  tomorrow

Fourth Draft: Go up, compliment Michael's eyes, pray that it’s a common thing, ask for a picture, and try to work the conversation from there.

Best plan yet.

Jeremy glanced around excitedly. He didn't know why, but the prospect of finding out what had gone on was weirdly appealing. Michael’s car has moved, so Jeremy assumed he’d already left.

Execute the plan tomorrow.

**—**

Tomorrow came far too quickly, yet Jeremy had already recited his plan a million times. His heart was racing because _oh lord this was so weird_. How often is it you go up to someone who’s basically a stranger and just say “Hey, my friend doesn’t believe your eyes are really the color they are so I need a picture and also you look like ass what’s wrong?”

Maybe that was actually extremely common and Jeremy was the weird one, but that seemed highly unlikely at best.

The plan was an even longer-term thing than originally anticipated, since he needed to be prepared and actually awake at a time Michael was nearby without it seeming weird.

Was this an overly complicated plan for just asking if someone was okay? Yup. Was Jeremy justifying it with the logic that he'd prove a point to Hunter in the process? Absolutely.

Jeremy fell into the same pattern as yesterday, getting a feeling that this would become a routine - wake up, get dressed, quietly thank the alarm for actually going off, walk to school, and such- but today he had tea. Caffeine was very important. He’d rather not show up at school a zombie today.

The walk to school was more or less uneventful. 

You know, aside from the new claw marks on the trees.

Jeremy frowned at the aforementioned marks, running a finger over the scratches in the bark of a dogwood. He had passed this tree the previous two days, and the markings definitely hadn’t been there before. They were somewhat deep and evenly spaced, appearing very deliberate.

Jeremy shrugged it off. It was probably just someone’s dog.

Was scratching trees normal? Was the dog lost and anxious?

Jeremy may have always been a cat person, but he still cared about dogs. It was... upsetting to think of an anxious, lost pet out in the town.

He’d keep an eye out.

**—**

Michael seemed to go through the same cycle as the day before, yet even Christine seemed exhausted that day. They both came to school with bags under their eyes, but Jeremy noticed the same overly-nice hair and clothes.

"You were right," Christine muttered under her breath. "You should get excused from school. And me. I should too."

Jeremy arched his brow, but continued watching. The two continued talking, and eventually Rich came up to them, stating something about the night being rough. He noticed the shorter boy had a lisp, something he had failed to realize in their previous interaction a few days ago.

"Yup," Michael muttered. "Apparently." His eyes caught the light, and they seemed to glow. Jeremy stifled a gasp, finding it weirdly interesting. _Nope. Randomly gasping is weird._

"He got out," Christine added. _Oh. Does the lost dog belong to one of them?_

Now seemed as good a time as any, and honestly he was scared he'd forget to ask, so Jeremy walked up to the group with a small wave. "Hey, um," he said, attempting to sound normal. All three instantly moved their gazes to him, and the only word running through his mind now was _regret._ "I heard your conversation, um, did one of you lose a dog?"

The other three instantly stiffened and shared a glance. Jeremy was absolutely certain he'd said something off, but he forced a smile and tried to look calm. "Um, yeah," Christine interjected. "I have a dog, a Samoyed named Bear, and I was visiting Michael last night and I brought Bear and he got out." Her words sounded rushed and nervous, but Jeremy assumed she was just worried about her pet.

Michael's shoulders relaxed and he nodded along. "I went out to get a drink from the freezer outside, and the dog ran out. Why? Have you seen him?"

Jeremy shook his head. "No, but I saw some claw marks on a dogwood near my house. I'll keep an eye out, and you might want to look there."

Christine nodded just a bit too casually for it to seem exactly normal. "Okay, thanks."

"I, uh," Jeremy began trying to talk again, suddenly forgetting what he was going to say. "Also, I think your eyes look cool." _Oh, good job. I can't talk._

Michael smiled. "Thanks, I get that a lot."

"I texted a friend of mine," Jeremy added, desperately attempting to sound normal. "And he didn't believe me when I said they were gold? Which is a really weird thing to mention but I did anyway because I'm weird-" _Oh real smooth Jeremy, how many people say that?-_ "and I was wondering if I could get a picture? To, well, I guess prove my point?"

There was silence for a moment, and Jeremy began to worry he had said something strange, only for Michael's pupils to swell as he doubled over laughing. He barely managed to choke out any words, but Jeremy was able to make out two full sentences: _"of all the things, that is just - amazing!"_ and _"I've been asked a lot of things about it, but this is new!"  
_

Whether that was that good or bad, Jeremy couldn't tell, but laughter is contagious and it didn't take long for the other three students to burst into giggles as well. Eventually, they composed themselves and Michael nodded his approval. "Go ahead, I guess." Jeremy could've sworn he also heard his companion mutter something along the lines of _this is so insanely outlandish,_ and honestly, he had to agree.

Jeremy took the picture, but just before he could send it to Hunter, Michael added on. "You seem pretty cool, maybe we could text?" Christine nodded her agreement.

Jeremy blinked. "Wait, what?"

"Oh, does that make you uncomfortable?" Christine's demeanor changed almost instantly, though he couldn't place the exact emotion it changed to. "Never mind, it's okay!"

"No, no, no!" Jeremy yelped, wide-eyed. "It's just, I only have two friend's numbers, and for one - well, we'd been friends for years by the time we both got a phone, it was only natural to text each other, and for the other we had known each other for... um, I think it was six months before we exchanged numbers?" Oh great, he was rambling. "But yeah, I'm just not used to it being a more upfront thing I guess?"

"Oh," Christine said, returning to a more carefree stance. "Alright!" Jeremy gave Christine his phone, who passed it to Michael, and a moment later he got it back with two new contacts set as Christine Canigula and Michael Mell.

It wasn't until they had long since separated for their appropriate classes that Jeremy realized he had forgotten to ask what had happened the day before.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jeremy is a cat person and no arguments are valid.  
> This was really hard to write because I don't know how to build new relationships, I can only really work with pre-existing ones, so... yeah. This is going to be hard to write in general. My request for criticism still stands, though preferably about character interactions in this case.


	3. -t h r e e-

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeremy forges relationships and we learn more about his life in Ohio.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternative description: Literally nothing happens for an entire chapter aside from setup.  
> The second half is pretty unimportant and you could probably just skip it but character development and mild foreshadowing (or, well, blatantly stating what's going to happen) is fun and I had to pad the chapter length.

Sometime around noon, Jeremy got his first message from Christine. It simply stated that he was going to be social whether he liked it or not.  
He was unsure as to whether or not to interpret that as a threat.

Shortly after Jeremy got home, he got the second one: a reassuring statement that Bear had been found and was safely home.

The third was a list of phone numbers, each with a name assigned to it, and the simple statement that Jeremy should add them to his contacts.  
Within the next hour, his phone was blowing up with notifications in a newly created group-chat.

**_Chat: New Jersey_**  
**Christine:** Alright people  
**Christine:** We are going to be polite and welcoming  
**Michael:** And not scare him off  
**Brooke:** Okay  
**Christine:** Everyone state a fact about yourself  
**Christine:** I’ll go first  
**Christine:** I’m a bit too obsessed with animals  
**Christine:** I know too much about small pets  
**Michael:** She's really aggressive if you give a hamster a too-small cage  
**Michael:** Uh  
**Michael:** I like dogs  
**Rich:** Wow  
**Rich:** Smooth  
**Rich:** Once I accidentally set a fire to grilled cheese  
**Jenna:** Nobody knows how he did it  
**Jenna:** I have a YouTube channel  
**Brooke:** I’m the only one here with a license but no car  
**Chloe:** I have two cats  
**Jake:** I broke both my legs last year  
**You:** How do you even do that  
**Jake:** Don’t ask  
**Jake:** Please  
**Jenna:** It involved the aforementioned grilled cheese fire  
**You:** Um  
**You:** Okay  
**You:** Hi  
**You:** I’m Jeremy  
**You:** I grew up with my mom in Ohio  
**Michael:** Welcome to insanity  
**Rich:** Welcome to the Squad  
**Jenna:** Welcome to hell  
**Christine:** Welcome  
**You:** Uh  
**You:** Thanks

At this point, Jeremy closed the app and mulled over the new information gained from this conversation. Deciding he knew enough about them now, he started thinking of possible contact names. Hunter had ended up being Eevee simply due to an adoration for the fox, which led to Holly being Leafeon due to name puns. Might as well keep with the trend.

Jake was set to Jolteon, since Jeremy had always viewed it as a sporty Pokemon. Rich was set as Flareon because of the red streak in his hair and the alleged burnt grilled cheese. Brooke was set as Vaporeon for the same reason as Holly, and Chloe was set as Sylveon because it just seemed accurate. Christine was Espeon since it generally seemed somewhat fitting, which left Glaceon for Jenna and Umbreon for Michael.

Wait- he decided the last two via process of elimination.

He had gone from two contacts to enough to fill every Eeveelution.

Holy shit he knew people now.

**_Chat: Ohio_**  
**You:** Guys I have friends now  
**Leafeon:** Wait What  
**Eevee:** That’s awesome!!  
**You:** Yeah  
**You:** Michael and Christine texted me, then Christine added me to a groupchat?  
**Leafeon:** I am proud of you  
**Leafeon:** My son  
**Eevee:** Who’s Christine  
**You:** One of Michael’s friends  
**Eevee:** Of course  
**Leafeon:** Of course  
**You:** Why “of course”  
**Eevee:** it all loops back to the magic golden eyes  
**You:** !!  
**You:** Speaking of

Jeremy laughed audibly, opening the photo in order to send it. This gave him a chance to inspect the image, which grew more interesting the longer he looked at it.

At first, the eye seemed like a normal golden-brown, but there were golden streaks shooting through it like comets and leaking through the rest in a spiderweb-like pattern, and the veins seemed to thicken the longer he stared at the image.

Suddenly realizing he had been staring at the photo for a solid minute, Jeremy pressed send.

**Eevee:** Okay  
**Eevee:** My point stands disproven  
**Eevee:** I surrender  
**Eevee:** That actually looks really cool  
**You:** Yup  
**Leafeon:** Cooler than anticipated  
**Eevee:** I can see why you’re attracted to him  
**You:** I swear

Jeremy considered sending a lengthy rant before deciding the best response was just to ignore him it. After a few moments of watching the two tease him, he returned to the New Jersey chat. It seemed that, in the few minutes he was away, Brooke and Chloe had gotten into a very heated discussion as to whether it’s called shaved ice or a snow cone and Christine was worrying over whether or not they had scared him away already. Rich suggested that maybe he had a heart attack.

_**Chat: New Jersey**_  
**You:** I’m not dead  
**You:** I was just setting contacts  
**Espeon:** oh phew  
**Umbreon:** What are they?  
**You:** Everyone is set as an eeveelution  
**Umbreon:** Nice  
**Glaceon:** Yes!!! Good choice!!  
**Espeon:** Aww  
**Espeon:** Themed names  
**Jolteon:** ...  
**Jolteon:** Am I supposed to know what eeveelutions are  
**Umbreon:** What  
**Glaceon:** w h a t  
**Espeon:** They’re from Pokémon  
**Jolteon:** Oh okay  
**Umbreon:** You’ve never played a pokemon game before  
**Jolteon:** No  
**Umbreon:** Not even in elementary  
**Jolteon:** No  
**Glaceon:** HOW  
**Glaceon:** HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE  
**Umbreon:** We will right this wrong  
**Jolteon:** Um  
**Jolteon:** Okay  
**You:** I didn’t know that was physically possible  
**Espeon:** Why is this such a big deal  
**Glaceon:** CHRISTINE  
**Glaceon:** THIS IS THE BIGGEST DEAL  
**Glaceon:** POKEMON IS A RIGHT OF PASSAGE  
**Vapreon:** Even I’ve played Pokémon games  
**Vapreon:** And I don’t like a lot of games  
**Umbreon:** You don’t even know about the eeveelutions??  
**Jolteon:** No  
**Glaceon:** HOW  
**Glaceon:** THEYRE SO POPULAR  
**Jolteon:** I literally only know Pikachu, Charizard and the blue-and-black furry  
**Umbreon:** The blue-and-black furry  
**Jolteon:** Yeah  
**Jolteon:** you know  
**Jolteon:** The dog thing  
**You:** Lucario?

  
There was a moment, and Jeremy assumed Jake was looking it up.

**Jolteon:** Yeah that  
**Umbreon:** “blue and black furry” is actually what you knew Lucario as  
**Jolteon:** That’s what it is

The conversation continued for a couple hours, swinging everywhere from a continuation of Chloe and Brooke’s “discussion” to who had what pets (a total of three dogs, four cats, and Jenna even had two rabbits) and it made Jeremy feel weirdly... confident? Empowered? The word evaded him, but it was certainly positive. Michael, Christine and Rich had all left around nine, but that was understandable. Homework existed, after all.

Shit. Homework.

Jeremy had that too.

 

**—**

 

_At first, Jeremy had wanted a dog. What kid didn't? He knew the stigma around cats - they only wanted you for free food. They didn't care about you. They're break your stuff and stare you in the eye while doing so. Jeremy didn't want to deal with that. Cats were loners, and Jeremy wanted a friend. However, when he asked his mom for a dog, she had said no._

_"Dogs are big and noisy," she had said. "They need a lot of training, and they're too big for a little kid like you."_

_"But I'm tall!" Jeremy had protested. "And Heather said she has a dog that can fit in a teacup!"_

_Jeremy's mother had just laughed a bit. "But those dogs are expensive, sweetie! And they aren't good with children."_

_Jeremy had asked two other times that day, but each time bore the same result: no._

_Jeremy had tried to ignore it._ I don't need a dog, _he had though. Yet, somehow, the next day at school, he picked up on each of the other student's conversations as they spoke of their pets. At recess, when Heather had started bragging about the dog her mom carried around in a purse, he had burst into tears._

_Then, Holly walked up. She had transferred to the school the year before, and the two had talked a bit. Jeremy considered her a friend, if not a super close one at the time._

_"What's wrong?" She had asked._

_"Mom won't let me get a dog," Jeremy had choked out, his eyes still watering. "And I asked three times but she said they're too big and too much work and I'm too little!'_

_"Then get a cat," Holly had stated bluntly. "They're small and nice and not nearly as much work."_

_"But cats are selfish," He complained. "And they don't care about you!"_

_"No they aren't," Holly said. "I have a big cat named Penguin and he's super nice and always sits with me when I'm upset! You should ask your mom for a cat!"_

_That afternoon, when he got home, Jeremy did just that. "Mom, can I have a cat?"_

_There was a moment of silence, then a warm smiled had crossed Jeremy's mother's face. "That seems like a wonderful idea!"  
_

_A couple months later, Jeremy was in a car on the way to the local animal shelter. His mother had called up and said that there were five kittens available for adoption, and Jeremy was babbling about the perfect cat he wanted._

_"He'll be big and strong!" Jeremy had declared. "With short and thick fur! That's black-and-white, like Penguin! And he'll always be with me and-"_

_He was cut off by the car door opening. Jeremy ran excitedly to the building, where he was promptly escorted to the room where the kittens were. Four were playing in the center of the room, among them a large tuxedo tom exactly like the one Jeremy had imagined._

_Yet that wasn't the cat his eyes were instantly drawn to._

_In the corner of the room, a small calico molly was watching her siblings with interest, yet she hung back as though scared. Jeremy instantly memorized every detail, from the almost-too-big head to the exact shade of gold her eyes were._

_She was perfect._

_Jeremy pointed to the kitten, at which point he was informed her name was Jupiter and of course he could have her._

_That night, a small cat bed sat in the corner of Jeremy's room and a longhaired kitten was resting in it. The boy was half-asleep in his own bed, a soft plush dog clutched to his chest, when he was jolted awake by a pitiful mew._

_Jupiter was cat-crying._

_Jeremy instantly sat up, desperate to comfort her yet unsure of how. Afraid of waking his mother, Jeremy did the only thing her could think of. He snuck up to the kitten and began gently stroking her and murmuring, waiting until she calmed down, at which point he carried her to his bed, rested her on his pillow, and closed his eyes with her curled next to his face. Jeremy decided in that exact moment that he was a cat person through-and-through.  
_

_He hadn't noticed that the dog had fallen to the floor._

 

**—**

 

Jeremy hadn't slept with stuffed animals since he got Jupiter in third grade. By high school, he'd assumed he was done with it. Who needed toys when a perfectly good ball of fur was content sleeping with you? There was nothing as validating as your breath falling into the same pattern as the smaller creature next to you, and there was no better excuse to sleep in then a cat rolling onto your stomach.

But Jupiter had been left in Ohio with Jeremy's mother, and something had felt empty every night since he had moved. Without a cat, he was cold at night. The bed felt empty without Jupiter.

So that night, Jeremy made up his mind.

He was going to get a new cat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Overly-dramatic buildup for a minor plot point? Projecting onto literally everyone? What no psh what are you talking about no of course I don't  
> This chapter was bad, but don't worry, New Cat is important so yeah


	4. -f o u r-

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeremy meets... someone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternate title: a weird jumble of events.

Friday night, there was a storm.  
It was loud and made Jeremy uncomfortable. Not only that, but he could’ve sworn, when he glanced out the window, there was a man there, cursing at the half-covered moon. It was almost full, only a thin sliver of light missing.

  
Saturday morning, Jeremy decided it might be a good idea to try being physically active for once instead of wasting away in front of his computer. A short walk around the dogwood and back - he guessed it would be about five minutes - would fill his exercise quota for the day, yet something stalled him.  
That weird guy again. He was tall and thin - not lanky like Jeremy, but almost sickeningly malnourished. His skin was almost vampire-white and stood out against his ebony-black hair and shocking blue eyes. On top of that, he was wearing a trench coat. If there was one thing musicals had taught him, it was that trench coats are a bad sign. Jeremy was almost surprised he didn’t have a villain mustache.  
  
He took a step back from the man - and, consequentially, the dogwood he had been studying. The deep scratches in the wood had, surprisingly, already begun to scar over, and seemed to be a subject of interest to Blue-Eyes.  
Blue-Eyes glanced up and Jeremy didn’t suck away in time. He made eye contact for a mere moment and was instantly shaking with regret.

  
“Hello,” Blue-Eyes’ voice was weirdly silky and had a slight trace of a British accent. Alright, definitely cliche.  
  
“I- um, hi,” Jeremy stuttered out, panicking slightly. _Who is this guy?_  
  
“Do you live in the area?” His voice kept the calming tone, yet Jeremy couldn’t relax.  
  
“That’s not just... well,” Jeremy was growing less comfortable by the moment, desperate to get away. “That’s- you don’t just ask people that.”  
  
Blue-Eyes smiled somewhat, yet it didn’t put Jeremy at ease. “Very well. My name is Eric S. Quip, and I’m doing a study on the wildlife in this area and was hoping to get some sources.” Quip offered his hand.  
Jeremy pulled back a bit and pushed the hand away.  
  
“I do live around here, yeah, but I don’t think there anything interesting around here.”  
  
“Really?” Eric arched his eyebrows, his mouth falling open a bit. “Have you seen this tree?” His tone grew almost accusing, and Jeremy was desperate to get away. Fear trickled down his spine like ice.  
  
“Yes, okay? My friend’s dog escaped a few weeks ago, those claw marks were left by it!” His tone grew desperate and he was backing up a bit. “I- just, leave me alone, okay?” At that, Jeremy turned and ran. He didn’t slow for what felt like forever, before collapsing by an all-too-familiar street light to catch his breath. _Thank goodness I’ll never have to deal with that guy again._

  
**^^vv <>A<>vv^^**

  
_**Chat: New Jersey, 2:34 PM**_  
**Espeon:** Have any of you seen anything weird recently?  
**You:** Yeah actually  
**You:** Today I ran into a weird guy with a trench coat at the dogwood  
**Espeon:** The dogwood?  
**You:** The one I saw the claw marks in  
**Espeon:** oh  
**Espeon:** What did he do  
**You:** said something about wildlife studies  
**You:** I got really... weird vibes from him  
  
**_3:15 PM_**  
**Espeon:** Everyone be careful  
**Espeon:** Please

  
**^^vv <>A<>vv^^**

  
It was about two weeks later. Quip hadn’t been spotted again, so Jeremy assumed he wasn’t a problem anymore. The fact that he worried Christine - and the others, it seemed - so much reflected on Jeremy, however. The man had given off really weird vibes but something about Christine’s behavior has taken it up a peg.  
  
Sighing, Jeremy thrummed his fingers against his desk, staring at the papers strewn across it. He had devoted his time to actually learning in school - what a concept - and had been punished in the form of math homework. Thankfully, he was saved from the pain by a ding from his phone. It took a mere millisecond for him to type in the passcode.

  
_**Chat: New Jersey, 5:12 PM**_  
**Vaporeon:** Alright Everyone  
**Vaporeon:** My place tomorrow?  
**Sylveon:** I think that works  
**You:** What?  
**Espeon:** Oh!!  
**Espeon:** Guys We never told him  
**Jolteon:** We all get together for a movie night on new moons  
**You:** Isn’t that usually a full moon thing?  
**Umbreon:** I don’t like the dark  
**Glaceon:** New moons make Michael sad  
**Glaceon:** So we get together  
**Espeon:** Comfort him, you know?  
**You:** Oh  
  
Jeremy returned to his homework, seeing as his phone had fallen silent. He was almost halfway done when there was another warning buzz.  
  
_**5:21 PM**_  
**Espeon:** Hey Jeremy  
**Espeon:** You can come you know  
**You:** Oh  
**You:** Thanks  
**You:** I mean I’ll have to check in with my dad first but yeah  
**Espeon:** I was just wondering if you weren’t sure but  
**Espeon:** It would be awful if us to tell you all about the things and then not let you come.  
**Espeon:** And you might have not know you could come but yeah you can  
**Vaporeon:** I’ll give you my address tomorrow at school  
**You:** Thanks  
**You:** A lot  
  
Jeremy plugged his phone in, turned it off, and turned back to the paper. _This is normal. I shouldn’t be so excited a friend invited me to her place._ He stretched a bit, groaning, only to hear a sudden noise outside. Jeremy went to the window and pulled away a curtain, only to drop it again almost instantly.

Eric Quip was outside his house, squinting at a barely-visible white sliver of light. __  
  
That is not normal.

  
**^^vv <>A<>vv^^**

  
Something was following him the next day.  
  
Jeremy first saw it as he left the house for school - it was just a flash of red fur, yet the thing was gone so fast he could’ve sworn he was mistaken. The exact same color kept popping up in the corner of his eye for the rest of the walk, though, disappearing only for a few minutes around the time he passed the dogwood. Jeremy thought he had finally gotten away, only to see the same red fur at school - a quick flash before disappearing behind a bush - and Jeremy wasn't sure whether or not to be concerned. The... thing, whatever it was, had followed him during the entire ridiculously long walk from his home to school - the longest period he had gone without seeing it was only three minutes. That was devotion - a kind you don’t usually see in animals. Ignoring the fear trickling down his neck and his better judgement, Jeremy went to look at the _thing_. He rounded the bush to see...|  
  
_A cat?_  
  
Jeremy had been building up to something huge, but... sure enough, it was just some very dedicated stray cat. It’s fur was a deep red with some even darker markings, and there was a splash of white on its muzzle. It’s fur was short and patchy, and there was even a bare spot on its forehead - though something about the smooth skin told him it was natural.  
  
Before he had a chance to react, the cat yowled and ran away.  
  
Normally, Jeremy would have brushed it off as nothing. However, something kept the cat on his mind. It was... weird, like Michael's eyes or Mr. Quip or, well, even the dogwood tree's scratches.  
  
Jeremy shook his head. _It was just a normal cat,_ he told himself. _Just a normal cat._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear everything is important eventually even if it seems trivial, dumb or petty now. Chekhov's Gun and all that  
> Anyways hooray for inconsistent paragraph length and spacing  
> 


	5. -f i v e-

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeremy _finally_ begins to realize that something’s up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I usually try to keep sarcasm out of the summary but  
> Anyway the spacing is inconsistent once again, who could have guessed?

How many odd things had Jeremy tallied up now? Three? Four, maybe? He had lost count.

A peer with golden eyes? Not normal, exactly, but not unheard of. Said peer and his friend looking strangely exhausted for three or four days? Weird, but not too outstandingly so. A creepy guy claiming to be studying wildlife yet making an awfully big show of it? Strange, but again, not too much. The cat? Well, that was barely even strange, and Jeremy still wasn’t sure what had stood out to him about it. Individually, or maybe even in pairs, Jeremy wouldn’t have given it much thought. All together, though? That was a different story entirely, and Jeremy knew it wouldn’t stop weighing on him for at least a good while.

After a solid five minutes of overthinking everything, Jeremy decided to seek out Brooke - and by extension, pretty much everyone else - though he wasn’t quite sure what his train of thought was. _I’m suspicious of my peers - hey, to get my mind off things, I should seek out said peers!_ Regardless, he stood up and started wandering around campus, looking for the curly-haired blonde.

When Jeremy found her, she was sitting with his “friends.” (Something about that term still didn’t quite sit right with Jeremy, as it felt as though there was something that still set him apart. He wasn’t sure what it was, though, and he didn’t have many better terms to use, so “friends” it was.) They weren’t absorbed in the usual cheerful conversation though. Rather, tension hung taught between them like a cord - and something told Jeremy one end was tied to him. It gave him a... _feeling_. He just knew they were arguing over him, yet he himself couldn’t help. Jeremy had been about to back away when Brooke caught his eye and shushed the others.

“Jeremy! Sorry, we’re just- uh, petty argument, nothing big,” Brooke assured him. Jeremy couldn’t help but notice her too-wide smile and the slight frantic glint in her eye. “You need my address right?” And, before Jeremy could say anything, she fumbled in her backpack for a paper, scribbled something on the back, and passed it back to Jeremy, who took that as a queue to leave.

Something kept him nearby though - just around a corner and close enough to eavesdrop on some bits of their frantic conversation. It was... nonsense. Sure, he could make out sentences, but they were all frayed threads - nothing connected. There was something they weren’t telling him, that was for sure - and the group seemed to be mostly split on the matter. What were they keeping, though?  
Jeremy wasn’t sure he wanted that question answered, yet he knew it wouldn’t be off his mind until it was.

**^^vv <>A<>vv^^**

Against his better judgement, Jeremy didn’t back out of the movie night.

Rather, he was inspecting the torn-up scrap of paper and rereading the address for the millionth time. The house didn’t really seem like something Brooke would live in - sure, it was nice (pastel blue two-story with a wrap-around porch) but it seemed a bit _too_ much so. Somehow, it seemed more Chloe to him. After he could absolutely guarantee with little to no room for error and he was at the right place, Jeremy walking up to the house and knocked on the door - three shrill taps. After a moment of waiting and a small wave of panic rising in his throat, the door pulled open and he was met by the absolute frizz that was Brooke’s hair when not heavily styled.

“Jeremy!” Her voice was high-pitched and surprised. At his clearly nervous reaction, she smiled and began waving her hands around. “No, it’s fine - Chloe and Christine are already helping me set up! Come in, come in, you can help!”

So that was how Jeremy was (finally) distracted from the paranoid suspicions crawling at the back of his neck. Instead of sitting at home questioning the weird mix of clues, he was in a fancy house’s basement with three “friends” fluffing out pillows and sleeping bags with a weird mix of music playing in the background. Christine sang along, as did Brooke (who was surprisingly good at it) while Chloe adjusted every pillow to face the exact perfect direction. Jeremy wondered what the point was (as Christine said, “they’re all going to get messed up anyway!”) but was too scared to ask. He himself spent most of the time watching from a corner, though occasionally one of his three companions would wave him over for help with a particularly large blanket.

In about a half hour, when the rest started arriving, the room looked less like a house and more like a pillow fort. There was a solid four inches of blanket at any given point, with stacks around the walls just in case it wasn’t enough. Somehow. The pillows were arranged in a semi-circle around the back, and stacked in corners.

Overkill? Definitely. Comfortable? Certainly. Great? Absolutely.

Rich came first, then Jenna. Everything was looking great up until Michael arrived. Brooke escorted him down the stairs, and Jeremy could pick up frantic whispers. Suddenly, there was that feeling - they were arguing about whatever again, and Jeremy could practically taste the tension.

The whispers cut off almost the moment the two actually entered the room, however, and Jeremy moved to a farther corner in an attempt to cut of the anxiety clawing at his spine. Waiting until the suffocating tension in the air let up, he patted his pockets for his phone.  
He had forgotten it at home, and instead his fingers pulled out the paper from Brooke.  
Nothing better to do. Jeremy folded open the paper, which looked like it had fallen out of a notebook. It was mostly torn apart and the notes were too faded to read, but the date at the top of the paper was still legible: _1/28/14._

A small, confused gasp escaped Jeremy’s mouth. _2014? It’s from... that would be freshman year, right?_ Jeremy blinked, confused. _It’s been on the bottom of her backpack for... just under a year now._ He blinked, then began to inspect the rest of the paper. There was a messy doodle of some sort of dog. At first he thought it might be Christine’s dog - Bear, right? - seeing as the fur was long and thick, so it could be a Samoyed, but... after he looked at the shading closer, it looked more like the salt-and-pepper coloring of a wolf. There were also messy notes scribbled down, though he couldn’t make it out. Strangely enough, there were barley any notes down.

Jeremy sighed, folding up the note and returning it to his pocket. Jake had arrived, and the traces of arguments were all but gone. Brooke opened Netflix, scrolling through the movies. After a bit of discourse, they settled on one and fell silent as it opened.

Jeremy hardly noticed anything strange. Well, at first. Maybe 45 minutes in, though, there was a small dog-like whimper. When he looked up to see where it came from, he noticed Michael staring out the window. The shorter boy's eyes looked more brown then gold, and his pupils were constricted. There wasn’t anything to look at, though. The moon wasn’t visible, and most stars were covered by clouds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey wow I actually had fun writing this chapter  
> That's new  
> I could've made this longer and maybe I should have but... well actually I don't have a reason not to, something's just telling me to save it all for later? I hit my word goal so it's good enough. Anyways, leave your criticisms and whatnot, nothing I haven't said before.


End file.
